Need a new laptop

Tikay_Elle

I'm looking for a new laptop. I just can't be confined to my office i'm add and sitting back there is enough to seriously make me crazy :twitch

I have been hearing how great the mac is for photography and graphic work and I deal with both. I plan on upgrading again in 3-4 years. I talked to a Mac tech and he said even if I went with a Mac that I would be upgrading in 3-4 years with their system too. I really just want to know what other photographers think before I spend this chunk of cash. Right now I'm looking at living room and office. Maybe work but I have a car so no biggie there either.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6658221&csid=ITD&recordsPerPage=10&body=REVIEWS#tabs

colourbox

Two of my Mac laptops went 3 and 4 years before I felt I needed a new model. My current is almost 3 yrs but I'll probably feel it's still fast enough for another year at least. It isn't that they stop working, it's that you start wanting a CPU that's as fast as what's current. Macs use the same Intel CPUs as PCs, so you don't escape the speed problem with a Mac. The problem is that photography, like digital video, requires a more powerful system than everybody else. If I was strictly an accountant or manager, I could run MS Office on a laptop until it died. A friend of mine still runs his store using a 2004 Mac, but he doesn't need state-of-the-art CPU speed to balance his books. If we looked at all my Mac laptops for that usage then we have a different story: Only one of the 4 Mac laptops I've owned has died, and the oldest one still works (18 years old). One that I bought in 2003 was still capable of (slow) raw processing 5 years later.

Where Macs last longer is that they tend to be more forward-looking in some ways. Yes, they often lack useful ports that PCs have, but for example that 2003 Mac laptop of mine had FireWire 800, a great trackpad, built-in 802.11g wifi and Bluetooth, a backlit keyboard, and a DVI video out, which kept it useful as a secondary machine because many PC laptops made the same year did not have all those features. Also, the Mac OS X operating system tends to be very backward compatible which means you can still use new features on Macs that are kind of old. New OS versions do not run slow on old machines, they are well optimized. All this means that if you still have to get a new Mac after 3 years, the one you had will still be useful or, you will get good resale value from it.

Desktops are a different story; my Mac tower is 4 years and it's running 2010 software so well I have no need for a new one.

Tikay_Elle

Ok well if I got a mac what would you suggest that wouldn't go over $2,500? I need to edit photos of course and I need to do graphic work. In your opinion is the Toshiba even worth considering?

ziggy53

I moved this to Digital Darkroom Gear since that's where we discuss computers, monitor, etc.

While I have a laptop I use it mostly for showing the finished images to clients, showing images to prospects, etc. I do little processing on the laptop because I desire the speed of a full desktop for processing. In this configuration the laptop doesn't need to be too special.

If you do decide to go with a fast laptop that can also act as a desktop replacement, yes it makes some sense to go with a very fast and robust machine like you have linked. Remember to budget for some external storage for redundant backup and storage expansion.

I am still all Windows based and, temporarily forgetting about Windows ME and Vista, I am happy to stay Windows for the foreseeable future. My desktop is a Windows 7 machine and compared to the Vista machines I've had to deal with (not my own) Windows 7 has proven very capable and stable. I regularly push 16 bit, 36MPix images through it and it handles them just fine in PSCS4.

Tikay_Elle

ziggy53 wrote: »

I moved this to Digital Darkroom Gear since that's where we discuss computers, monitor, etc.

While I have a laptop I use it mostly for showing the finished images to clients, showing images to prospects, etc. I do little processing on the laptop because I desire the speed of a full desktop for processing. In this configuration the laptop doesn't need to be too special.

If you do decide to go with a fast laptop that can also act as a desktop replacement, yes it makes some sense to go with a very fast and robust machine like you have linked. Remember to budget for some external storage for redundant backup and storage expansion.

I am still all Windows based and, temporarily forgetting about Windows ME and Vista, I am happy to stay Windows for the foreseeable future. My desktop is a Windows 7 machine and compared to the Vista machines I've had to deal with (not my own) Windows 7 has proven very capable and stable. I regularly push 16 bit, 36MPix images through it and it handles them just fine in PSCS4.

Thanks for moving this for me! I didn't know I had seen some laptop talk where I was so I added it there I'll prolly get more help here thanks a bunch! I'm desperate for some help on this issue. I have an external that I put all my pictures on but I'm currently looking for another one of those as well

aquaticvideographer

Tikay_Elle wrote: »

Ok well if I got a mac what would you suggest that wouldn't go over $2,500? I need to edit photos of course and I need to do graphic work. In your opinion is the Toshiba even worth considering?

Pretty much any Mac you get at that level, including MacBook Pros (laptops), will do your bidding as you see fit.

For example: This MBP, which retails at the Apple Store for $2200 or there abouts:

http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC373LL/A?mco=MTc0Njg1ODE

is plenty fast enough to run CS4/CS5 and Aperture/Lightroom. It also has really nice battery life, and if you wanted, you could spend a little more and get a more memory, or spend a lot more and get an SSD drive instead of a mechanical HD.

For less money, you could get a tricked out iMac for wayyyyy under $2500. This one:
http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC510LL/A?mco=MTg1ODA3Nzg
with a Core i5 and 8GB of memory is about $2100, and it comes with a nice 27" screen.

I've had Macs for years and highly recommend them to people doing all sorts of things, but for photography and graphic design I think you'll be especially pleased.

Remember to budget for off-site backup (like BackBlaze, ~$50/year). Also remember that if you are buying a stock Mac system, there are discounts to be had at Amazon. If you are a student, you can get similar discounts directly from Apple.

This thread:
http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=154706
has some good advice for people looking to start out with a new Mac.

Newsy

I think you should plan on having a good external monitor for serious editing work - one that can be calibrated accurately.

The Mac Book Pro screen, while being of a higher quality for its' type, is still a pseudo 8bit "TN" TFT panel (6bit with FRC + dithering to simulate 8bit).

You can source a NEC or Dell 23" 1920x1080 8bit e-IPS monitor with about 100% coverage of the sRGB color space and DisplayPort connectivity, for under $300 USD. Or a similar HP 24" 1920x1200 IPS panel for about $400 USD.

Tikay_Elle

Newsy wrote: »

I think you should plan on having a good external monitor for serious editing work - one that can be calibrated accurately.

The Mac Book Pro screen, while being of a higher quality for its' type, is still a pseudo 8bit "TN" TFT panel (6bit with FRC + dithering to simulate 8bit).

You can source a NEC or Dell 23" 1920x1080 8bit e-IPS monitor with about 100% coverage of the sRGB color space and DisplayPort connectivity, for under $300 USD. Or a similar HP 24" 1920x1200 IPS panel for about $400 USD.

In addition to the mac?

chrisjohnson

Tikay_Elle wrote: »

In addition to the mac?

I find the Mac Book Pro 17" screen good for editing and showing photos.

Were I to spend a lot of time with Photoshop or do a lot of printing I would be wanting a bigger and better external monitor, but then the ones I lust after are well over the $1000.

Nearly everything I do is for the web and the MBP does a super job.

Newsy

Tikay_Elle wrote: »

In addition to the mac?

Yes.